You heard it from Fannie Mae -- home prices are going to drop another four to five percent in 2008, and a turnaround won't happen until 2009.

If you're a seller: boo hoo. If you're an investor: yahoo!

Investors look to buy homes in down markets, improve them and sell them at a profit. And the best time to buy is when a market is soft, but looks like it's about to turn around.

How do you know a market's turning around? Jobs. A metro starts adding jobs.

Take Texas, for instance. According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A & M, Texas is generating more jobs than the U.S. average (2 percent to 1.2 percent), has lower unemployment than the U.S. average (4.1 to 4.7%), and all metros are reporting positive employment growth rates.

Yet housing prices are $1,200 lower in October than they were in September in Dallas and a whopping $8,900 lower in Austin for the same period. (Editor's note: November home sales not yet available.)

How can you have more jobs and lower housing prices?

It's called "opportunity."

That's why Franchisor HomeVestors named four out of its top ten markets for investing are in Texas.

1. Houston, Texas
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Dallas, Texas
4. St. Louis, Missouri
5. Phoenix, Arizona
6. Fort Worth, Texas
7. San Antonio, Texas
8. Minneapolis, Minnesota
9. Chicago, Illinois
10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

You know HomeVestors. They buy ugly houses. And they train investors to do the counterintuitive -- buy when no one else is buying.

Says John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors, "It was an ugly year for residential real estate ... . Despite changes in the market, real estate investing continues to grow."

So just scoot your boots down to the Lone Star state, and soon you'll be singing, "All my 'nvestments are in Texas... ."

Published: December 24, 2007

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.